I have always appreciated Stripped, because from my perspective, it was a unique sort of Stones album. But once again, the Stones missed the mark and could have done more with this project. For me, it does not gel putting studio tracks together with live tracks, and comes across a hodge podge album... if this should ever get re-released in an expanded format, the Stones should re-configure Stripped by putting out a CD of the studio tunes accompanied by a COMPLETE video concert from the "acoustic" Paradiso Club gig to really get a feel for what they were aiming for- The Paradiso gigs were a unique departure from the normal gigs played during the Voodoo Lounge tour as it was a smaller venue that allowed the Stones to concentrate on the music rather than get lost in all the usual "circus" trappings. As you can see and hear from the Stripped tv special, they played well, and further more, added to the ambience by playing rarities (per Karnbach) like Jump on Top of Me, Down in the Bottom, Spider & the Fly...

Surprises me that most don't like "Like a Rolling Stone" IMO one of their best covers ever. Brought out late career top notch playing by the guitars, the harp, Jagger on vocals ( remembering all those lyrics!!). The lyrics are so obvious that it is a cover that SHOULD never have happened, but when it did it provided one of those joyous Stones-show moments that all here know well.

Love in Vain is my favorite. Watts' drum playing is excellent.

It's a half-baked measure. It's not an acoustic album and not a real live-album (half of the songs are studio-versions). Their version of the Dylan-classic "Like a rolling stone" is stale.

>> Surprises me that most don't like "Like a Rolling Stone" <<

shakes my tailfeather just fine ... and i think it was a tip of the band's collective hat to Bill's departure

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with sssoul
>> Surprises me that most don't like "Like a Rolling Stone" <<

shakes my tailfeather just fine ... and i think it was a tip of the band's collective hat to Bill's departure

interesting - explain?

Stripped was very good - However it could have been so much more interesting. They had all of the stuff from Amsterdam. They could have released a double CD one with all of the studio stuff including the stuff from Stripped Companion and a second live disc from the Paradiso shows and it would have been great!!

Yeah. That's it. One disc of the studio recordings and then a second disc of all the live tracks. And some really good live tracks too! This really could have been a very very - possibly the most interesting - live album had they gone that route and stuck to what they were doing instead of putting the usual tired boring shit songs on like Jumpin' Jack and all that.

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skipstone
Yeah. That's it. One disc of the studio recordings and then a second disc of all the live tracks. And some really good live tracks too! This really could have been a very very - possibly the most interesting - live album had they gone that route and stuck to what they were doing instead of putting the usual tired boring shit songs on like Jumpin' Jack and all that.

Yep. Just like Love You Live would have been far better if they had just taken everything from the El Mocambo gigs and released it that way instead of three sides of the usual.

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71Tele

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skipstone
Yeah. That's it. One disc of the studio recordings and then a second disc of all the live tracks. And some really good live tracks too! This really could have been a very very - possibly the most interesting - live album had they gone that route and stuck to what they were doing instead of putting the usual tired boring shit songs on like Jumpin' Jack and all that.

Yep. Just like Love You Live would have been far better if they had just taken everything from the El Mocambo gigs and released it that way instead of three sides of the usual.

Agree 100%. The Stones obviously always feel obliged to include a handful of hits on live albums for commercial reasons. Stripped, as good as it is, could have been so much better as a double album with more acoustic stuff from the studio and more live stuff from the Paradiso like Two Trains Running, Down In The Bottom and the like.

If Clapton can get away with a whole album of blues covers, why cant the Stones do something similar?

Then again, No Security was a try to get away from the usual "hits live album" -and it failed miserably in commercial terms.

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Edward Twining
Doxa, the thing about 'Stripped' mainly is its novelty value. It is hearing rarely played songs, and some songs which have never been played live, in the context of an intimate, stripped down setting, without all the spectacle which normally goes along with a Stones performance. I was very excited initially on hearing rarely performed tracks like 'The Spider And The Fly', 'I'm Free', and especially 'Shine A Light', which up to then had had a very limited profile. However, after hearing them a few times, the novelty value wears off very fast, and i'm tempted to just go back to listening to the original versions, or on occasions some of the earlier live versions to a few of these songs, where that's applicable.

This is exactly the way I feel, too. None of those tracks have an 'eternal' appeal, or they are not constructed to be considered any big things. It is for this reason that I don't think the recordings should be taken too seriously. Their function is that of 'yeah, it is intersting to hear these old things stripped - now, what's the next real effort?" (For example, I was thrilled to hear STRIPPED COMPANION bootleg, but honestly, none of those tracks stand deeper listening.)

It is for this reason I prefer the TV documentary. It needs the visual aspect - the 'story' around them. As plain recordings, those don't really stand the test of time, or repeated listenings. As a record, STRIPPED - as argued by many here -is constructed really strangely - and I think it doesn't work good at all. It is typical late-day Stones compromise - a bit this and a bit that - they are not rely believing any of their strenghts. But in TV documentary it all works and have a sense.

- Doxa



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2010-12-05 13:05 by Doxa.

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alimente


If Clapton can get away with a whole album of blues covers, why cant the Stones do something similar?

Then again, No Security was a try to get away from the usual "hits live album" -and it failed miserably in commercial terms.

because clapton is a musician and jagger is a business man, i think that´s all

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alimente

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71Tele

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skipstone
Yeah. That's it. One disc of the studio recordings and then a second disc of all the live tracks. And some really good live tracks too! This really could have been a very very - possibly the most interesting - live album had they gone that route and stuck to what they were doing instead of putting the usual tired boring shit songs on like Jumpin' Jack and all that.

Yep. Just like Love You Live would have been far better if they had just taken everything from the El Mocambo gigs and released it that way instead of three sides of the usual.

Agree 100%. The Stones obviously always feel obliged to include a handful of hits on live albums for commercial reasons. Stripped, as good as it is, could have been so much better as a double album with more acoustic stuff from the studio and more live stuff from the Paradiso like Two Trains Running, Down In The Bottom and the like.

If Clapton can get away with a whole album of blues covers, why cant the Stones do something similar?

Then again, No Security was a try to get away from the usual "hits live album" -and it failed miserably in commercial terms.

Failed commercially is fine with me. I love that live album. To me it was a breath of fresh air - ahhhhh, no JJF and the lot. Aside from the gripes about that moron on Memory Motel or the tepid Respectable, it's a pretty damn good live album.

I agree about Love You Live even though there are certain tracks that are not Mocambo tracks that I love and am glad to have. But a whole double LP of The Mocambo would have been great indeed.

Listening to the stuff on the Stripped Companion now and it's great - the Stones in a stripped down setting with lots of acoustic and, best of all, no @#$%& backing singers. The studio stuff should definitely have made it to the album.

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Doxa
This is exactly the way I feel, too. None of those tracks have an 'eternal' appeal, or they are not constructed to be considered any big things. It is for this reason that I don't think the recordings should be taken too seriously. Their function is that of 'yeah, it is intersting to hear these old things stripped - now, what's the next real effort?" (For example, I was thrilled to hear STRIPPED COMPANION bootleg, but honestly, none of those tracks stand deeper listening.)


- Doxa

Doxa, 'Stripped' doesn't really add anything to the Stones legacy to any degree, but more importantly, unlike many of the Stones releases in more recent decades, it doesn't actually detract from their legacy, either. It is neither hugely inspiring, nor underwhelming and embarrassing, apart from maybe their miquided and pointless cover of 'Like A Rolling Stone'. I can actually recall upon the album's release, many of the tracks were played in the local record store, and i actually thought a number of them sounded pretty good, but like we both agree, the tracks really do lack staying power after those initial listens. I am not so sure those songs were recorded in as offhanded a manner as you suggest, because 'Stripped' is actually a very deliberate release, which is of course trading off the MTV Unplugged series of the early 90s. Largely, it is the Stones trying to find a way to fit into what were the contemporary musical fads of the time, and this particular musical fad actually co-incidentally related to the Stones earlier musical genre. I think, though, there's a case of the Stones still lacking a little where conviction is concerned.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 2010-12-06 20:21 by Edward Twining.

Stripped is for me an album to be looked at differently from other lives. It refreshes some old stuff in a very brilliant way. If I had to put in hands of young people who have never heard anything from this band ( eg 99% of that population), I would have them listened to Exile, ABB ( cut to a ten songs)and Stripped.